Hi all, bought my wife her first road bike for commuting about two months back , Avanti Vitale 1.0. it came with Alex AKX-R1.0 Wheelset and Kenda Kontender 700 x 26c tyres. Was wondering what would be the best upgrade of wheelset & tyres be for everyday commuting, i was thinking fulcrum 5 or 3 's with continetal Gatorskin folding x 25c, any sugestions would be great THANKS.

To be honest... Wheels with 32 or 36 spokes are better for commuting. With the fulcrums if she breaks a spoke she's going to probably be stuck. With 32 or 36 spokes she might not even notice immediately.

FWIW, on my wife's commuter (not that she has commuted since being pregnant and then us having a baby) has 32 spoke Velocity Deep-V and low end hubs. About as tough as you can get.

Gatorskins are pretty good (I use them). Schwalbe Durano plus are good too, possibly better puncture protection, but expensive and not as durable as gators (IME).

simonn wrote:To be honest... Wheels with 32 or 36 spokes are better for commuting. With the fulcrums if she breaks a spoke she's going to probably be stuck. With 32 or 36 spokes she might not even notice immediately.

+1. A spoke may never break if a wheel with that many spokes is built properly.

so i had a look around and found some silver 105 5700 32 hole hubs from ribble, maybe some mavic or those velocity rims ???. I might just get the spokes from the lbs that i will go to do the wheels up.

albertgaleano wrote:so i had a look around and found some silver 105 5700 32 hole hubs from ribble, maybe some mavic or those velocity rims ???. I might just get the spokes from the lbs that i will go to do the wheels up.

Good hubs, wrap a pair of Velocity Fusion rims about them using db spokes and they'll last for years.

...whatever the road rules, self-preservation is the absolute priority for a cyclist when mixing it with motorised traffic.London Boy 29/12/2011

Have been running Conti Top Contact since March and are bulletproof have just clocked 4500 Kms and still look and feel brand new very tough tyre.

Gator skins are also excellent as the puncture protection creates a very smooth ride prior to that was using Michelin Pros which are very fast but super hard.

As for wheels I've used the Fulcrum 5s which feel very strong especially on rough surfaces and DT Swiss 1800 which are also excellent go for any name brands that you find on special don't think you can go wrong.

I've been using Schwalbe Marathon Plus 700x28C tyres for several years now, and they're almost bullet-proof. My current rims are Dirtworks DT Swiss TK540 rims, which are nice and strong. And of course the Vivente tourer I use them on is a perfect commuter (and all-rounder) bike .